'T is a fault to Heaven,

A fault against the dead, a fault to nature,

To reason most absurd.

William Shakespeare (1564-1616): Hamlet. Act i. Sc. 2.

Condemn the fault, and not the actor of it?

William Shakespeare (1564-1616): Measure for Measure. Act ii. Sc. 2.

Every man has his fault, and honesty is his.

William Shakespeare (1564-1616): Timon of Athens. Act iii. Sc. 1.

And oftentimes excusing of a fault

Doth make the fault the worse by the excuse.

William Shakespeare (1564-1616): King John. Act iv. Sc. 2.

Dare to be true: nothing can need a lie;

A fault which needs it most, grows two thereby.

George Herbert (1593-1632): The Church Porch.

And he that does one fault at first

And lies to hide it, makes it two.

Isaac Watts (1674-1748): Divine Songs. Song xv.

Teach me to feel another's woe,

To hide the fault I see;

That mercy I to others show,

That mercy show to me.

Alexander Pope (1688-1744): The Universal Prayer. Stanza 10.

Why, man, he doth bestride the narrow world

Like a Colossus, and we petty men

Walk under his huge legs and peep about

To find ourselves dishonourable graves.

Men at some time are masters of their fates:

The fault, dear Brutus, is not in our stars,

But in ourselves, that we are underlings.

William Shakespeare (1564-1616): Julius Caesar. Act i. Sc. 2.

Damn with faint praise, assent with civil leer,

And without sneering teach the rest to sneer;

Willing to wound, and yet afraid to strike,

Just hint a fault, and hesitate dislike.

Alexander Pope (1688-1744): Epistle to Dr. Arbuthnot. Prologue to the Satires. Line 201.

The glorious fault of angels and of gods.

Alexander Pope (1688-1744): To the Memory of an Unfortunate Lady. Line 14.

The sad rhyme of the men who proudly clung

To their first fault, and withered in their pride.

Robert Browning (1812-1890): Paracelsus. Part iv.

A wealthy priest, but rich without a fault.

Alexander Pope (1688-1744): The Iliad of Homer. Book v. Line 16.

That if weak women went astray,

Their stars were more in fault than they.

Matthew Prior (1664-1721): Hans Carvel.

'T is a fault to Heaven,

A fault against the dead, a fault to nature,

To reason most absurd.

William Shakespeare (1564-1616): Hamlet. Act i. Sc. 2.